The New Year
by robbieworld
Summary: Damon and Bonnie return to Mystic Falls after being held up by a snowstorm for two weeks. Eager to pick up where they left off becomes difficult because they can't escape what happen during their time in isolation together. They agree along with their friends that they would start the New Year with no trouble or drama. However, their newest villain in town will have other plans.
1. Chapter 1

"Hurry up! Get all of your things together and let's go", Damon yelled out to Bonnie as he ran behind her every move around the cabin. She moved hastily picking up stray clothes that lay around. "Do not rush me Damon or I will not move any faster", she demanded. She grabbed a shirt that was tucked between the cushions of the couch, and then she made her way over to pick up a pair of jeans that were by the fireplace. She stuffed the garments in her handbag that she had strung over one of her shoulders.

The two looked like a cat chasing after a mouse. They scurried from one corner to the next. Bonnie's bag was full now and she was flustered beyond belief. "You are getting on my nerves Damon! Why did I decide to come here with you"? She spun around to face Damon. She placed her hands on her hips displaying her utmost of sass. "WHY", she asked once more. It was more of a rhetorical question. The last thing she wanted Damon to do is utter one more word.

Damon grinned his devilish grin. He looked at Bonnie with the pair of blue eyes of his, the same eyes that could infiltrate your mind to make you say or do whatever he commanded. He was a vampire after all. It was one of the biggest perks to being a blood sucking cold-blooded creature. Luckily for Bonnie she was immune to it, same as all the other witches.

"We both know the answer to your question Bon-Bon. Everyone knows". Damon placed his hand on Bonnie's shoulder to put her at ease. She looked onto him not breaking her cold stare, waiting for his response. Damon continued, "Because you'll do absolutely whatever it takes to make your friends happy".

"Yea, but not you Damon", she snapped.

"When it comes to Elena, yes you will", he said smug. "You know what that necklace means to Elena. You knew how hurt she was when she lost it. You agreed to do the locator spell and also drive all the way here to friggin Maine to get it". "With ME", he elaborated. "That's over seven hundred miles of road time with the one person you swore you hated the most on this green earth". Bonnie looked away as he began to strike a cord.

"So like I said you did it to make your dear friend happy. Oh yea, and to rub it in more… it pleased me. Does that bother you? Knowing that you sorta did something for me? Or does it not bother you? Do we have something more that we need to talk about Bonnie"? Damon continued to poke and prod at Bonnie.

"Get over yourself Damon. This will actually be the last thing that I ever do for you. And don't even bother throwing Elena's name out either the next time you need a favor. It won't happen again. THIS… Having to be stuck with you for two damn weeks will not come close to happening again. I made a mistake, and I realized it. My lesson has been learned".

"So then let's hurry back to Mystic Falls where we can go back and pick up where we left off with our normal lives", he said in a dramatic tone. "We've already missed Christmas, and I'd like to make it back there before New Years so I can give my girlfriend her necklace and she could forgive me and everything could be peachy keen in the life of Damon".

"Sounds great to me", Bonnie brushed passed Damon to get to her second bag and make her way to the door. She stopped at the elderly woman who waited for them on their way out. Bonnie gave her a hug. "Thank you Urma for your very kind hospitality. I am totally grateful for it. I want you to take care". The woman patted Bonnie on the back, "Anytime lovely, come back whenever you'd like". Bonnie smiled and then made her way out of the door.

Damon approached the woman next. He placed both of his hands on top of her shoulders and drew her in. He gazed into Urma's eyes with his piercing blues. He worked his way into her mind until it was his for the manipulating. "Urma, once we pull away from here you will not remember our visit. You will not remember either of the individuals that stayed here with you. You were alone during the snowstorm. You woke up to drink hot chocolate and marathon watched _Sherlock _on T.V. everyday".

Urma nodded her head in compliance. Still in a daze she repeated what had just been planted into her head, "Hot chocolate. _Sherlock_. Everyday".

Great job Urma! He gave her a gigantic smooch on the cheek. "Bye-Bye", and he jetted out the door. He hopped around in two feet of snow to get out to where Bonnie was with the car. Bonnie had just got done shoving her bags into the trunk, and then she slammed it closed. "Hey! What did my car ever do to you"?

"Come on Damon, like you said no more time to lose". She disregarded his remarks and she climbed into the passenger seat. "Ugh, over seven hundred miles with this woman. How am I going to do it"? He spoke to himself before getting into the driver seat. When he stuck the key into the ignition and turned to start it the car stalled a bit.

"Come on baby, come on", he prayed to hear the loud roar of his Camaro spring alive. With his second attempt it burst into a growling wake. "Woo", he cheered. He immediately turned on the heat and rubbed his hands together in front of the vent.

He looked over to Bonnie who lounged very dull and without a joy in the world. "I could leave you here if you want, you know"?

Bonnie looked at him side-eyed. "Let's move", she leaned forward and banged her hand on the dashboard. Damon exhaled a big breathe through his nose. "Allow me to oblige". He then stomped onto the gas making the rear tires spin out. The car twisted and turned before it finally peeled out in a very rapid departure.


	2. Chapter 2

Damon and Bonnie had driven for six hours already. It made up nearly half the trip and they only had to stop for gas twice on account of Damon going constantly over one hundred miles an hour. Damon looked over at Bonnie frequently to see if her body language had changed any. The whole time she sat upright, eyes forward, arms crossed, and lips pressed together. She hardly budged, barely a blink.

"Damon, you can slow down. Okay"? She spoke in a monotone voice, still looking straight ahead. "Only one of us is immortal, and the least you can do is get me back home in one piece".

"Oh, she speaks". He had been anxious to get one word out of her. "Look Bon, I don't get why you're so upset. I'm going to get you home as fast as I can. Any other time you wouldn't want to spend one more minute with me. Does this have anything to do with the last two weeks, maybe specifically last night"?

"We're not talking about this Damon".

"Oh how the script has been flipped. I have been trying to be accommodating to you finally after all of these years and you have just been a very frigid bitch to me the last twenty-four hours. The funny thing is that I ultimately got the thing that I wanted. It was the whole point of this trip, Elena's necklace. However, as I laid in bed last night I considered that the best thing to come out of all of this is that you and I could actually become friends".

"Shut up Damon".

"What? You don't think so. You don't agree that we finally warmed up to each other? Why is that such a problem, why do we have to be nemesis all the time"?

"Warmed up to each other"? Bonnie laughed. "Damon, we kissed".

There was a short awkward silence. Damon rambled for words. "Well, yes we did".

"And we talked about that. You know that I'm getting back with Elena as soon as I get her necklace to her".

"You think it's so easy Damon. You expect her to just take you back after you killed the guy that she was dating".

"It was an accident! How many times do I have to say that"?

"Sure. We just never quite know with you. Then there's the fact that you had already blown it with her way before all of that".

"I know, I know. I was being selfish, irresponsible, inconsiderate, and wasn't paying her much attention, but I'm over all of that".

"Hey, no need to explain all of that to me… I don't care". Bonnie rolled her eyes.

More silence followed. A solid five minutes had passed by, and then ten minutes. They had been on the same road for about an hour and a half. As they journeyed further south the scenery had begun to turn from white to green and there was less of a chill in the air. Along the way were probably thousands of trees that they've passed.

There were woods, woods, and more woods. That was pretty much all they had seen for a while, which means that they were nearing Virginia pretty soon. Damon looked over to Bonnie. Now she leaned over onto the door with her elbow propped and her head resting on her hand. He continued with short glances at the very sullen Bonnie.

"What you said last night, was all of that stuff true", he asked.

"I was drunk Damon. I didn't mean what I said".

"Then why are you so mad"? Damon reached over to put his hand on Bonnie's knee. In an instant she sprung up and chanted, "Zenthos". With that one word the car began to swerve and then it spun around several times because of the icy road.

As soon as Damon was able to get the car to a halt Bonnie opened the door and stepped out. She began to walk ahead away from the car.

"Damn it Bonnie! What's your problem"? He yelled out to her from the window.

"I don't know who the hell you think you are Damon! You don't get to have your way all the time. Everything is not about you, and I'm beginning to realize that it doesn't always have to be about Elena", she yelled without having to look back.

Damon had already opened the door and now he was standing outside of the car and leaning over the open door. There happen to be no other cars visible the whole time. He scrounged his face together, "WHAT"? He was clearly clueless. He could not begin to understand what was going through Bonnie's head at the moment.

He spent all morning and afternoon confused. They were good last night.

They shared an intimate kiss, but that was it. They talked about it and they laughed it off. She was drunk, and they went to sleep. What was he missing?

"Bonnie come back", he begged.

"Fuck it, I'm going to leave you… You little witch"! Words couldn't describe how annoyed he was beginning to get with her. He just wanted to zip over to her and squeeze her as hard as he could, maybe hear her bones crack. In fact he could imagine shaking the life out of her until the electrical impulses in her body died out and her heart suddenly stopped. Instead he released a sigh.

He was working on a new approach in life. Try to be sensitive he told himself. Be a nice guy. This was his New Year's resolution, but it was proving to be hard. However, if he could just overcome this then he may have a shot at getting Elena back.

"BONNIEEEEE", he poured out dramatically. She didn't give him the courtesy to stop to hear him out. Bonnie had begun to edge near the wood line. As the road was beginning to curve around, Damon was beginning to fade further and further out of sight. She had some major thinking to do, but Damon would not get out of her head.

She was the one that leaned forward to kiss Damon last night. He met her the rest of the way though. Why did she do it? Why did he do it back? As much as she wanted to believe it was all of the wine she had to drink, she shuttered to think that was not the main factor.

Had there been something underlying the whole time? Some type of feeling? Maybe it was hard for her to see it long before. There had always been more people involved, and danger every minute of the day.

There were typical things that you invite into your life when you get involved with a bunch of vampires. Things such as blood-sucking mayhem, compulsion to make the residents go loopy, battles against werewolves, and vampire turf wars among many other conflicts. Perhaps these things distracted her from really divulging what she really felt toward Damon. More significantly, Damon was the long time boyfriend of her best friend. That part ate away at her.

He had always been the biggest dick in Mystic Falls. Regardless of that she had to admit that the last two weeks were amazing, at least for her it was. Yet, Damon had no clue. In the past minute she had heard some rustling in the woods, but she shrugged it off as it being an animal. Now it was just getting louder.

She stopped and peered into the woods. There were trees left and trees right. Leaves smothered the ground. The ground was still wet, cold, and the total atmosphere was muggy. She didn't notice anyone or anything, so she continued to walk.

It didn't take much time for her to realize that something was moving in closer to her. She could feel its presence. Goosebumps trickled in back of her neck. She began to feel uncomfortable. She wrapped her arms around to hold herself.

This was an eerie feeling. She figured that now would be a good time to turn back and rush to the car with Damon. She stopped once more to consider her choice to head back. As her mind was made up she turned around and what was standing right behind her was menacing. Pale skin, red eyes, purple veins, and enormous fangs of what was now seen to be without a doubt a vampire.

He grabbed onto Bonnie and sunk his one-inch fangs into the side of her neck. She screamed out to Damon for dear life who was now hundreds of feet away. She was able to snatch away from the demented looking guy, but the blood that was just drained from her neck made her weak. He hit her with a backhand. She fell into his vicious hands and then he scrammed into the woods with her clutched against him.

By the time Damon made it to that very spot. They were no longer standing there. He kneeled down to examine the drops of blood. "Bonnie", he spoke softly in a worrisome tone. He gazed out into the woods. There he saw a speckle moving fairly fast cutting through the trees. He let out a grumble and suddenly he was after him.


	3. Chapter 3

Damon was racing as fast as he could after the predator that had nabbed Bonnie. This unknown vampire was also moving at supernatural speed. This made for two blurs dashing through the woods one after the other. Bonnie lay slumped into her perpetrator's hands. She couldn't make out much around her because of the rate that they were going.

"Put me down", she kept saying to him in a slurred speech. This was almost the same feeling as being drugged up on pain meds. He paid her no mind.

Damon was getting pissed. The angrier he got, the more he started to gain on them. He was uncertain of the current state that Bonnie was in. "She better be alive", he repeated to himself. He couldn't go back to Mystic Falls and she not be okay.

He would be blamed for this. He was blamed for everything. He thought to himself, did this have anything to do with him? He had made a lifetime of bad deals, and enemies in all parts of the world. Who would possibly try to get back at him? Why would they use Bonnie to do it?

Damon ran faster and faster, so fast that the bottom of his new fancy pair of leather boots would probably melt. He saw something pointed out to him. He squinted in a way to enable his sights to zoom in. It was Bonnie's hand. She was reaching out to him.

This was the motivation that would push him harder. He was so close now that he could almost reach out to grab her hand. With one last charge left, Damon was able to propel forward and lunge at the guy in front of him. He looked like a lion that had stalked his prey and finally struck for the kill.

Upon impact, the stray vampire had dropped Bonnie from his grasps and she went tumbling downhill. Damon had landed on the guy's back and they went rolling around trying to capitalize on the other. The vampire managed to push Damon off of him and he popped up to his feet in a flash. He turned to look at Bonnie's whereabouts, but before he could pursue her once more Damon was back up with a branch in his hand. By the time the vampire made another move, Damon had shoved the branch into the center of the guy's body.

The vampire staggered on his feet. Fortunately for him, Damon didn't come close to his heart. The vampire didn't speak, it was almost as if he couldn't speak. He made growling sounds, and he looked lost. It almost seemed like he had totally no idea what was going on. The man was almost zombie like.

"What is this all about", Damon asked. The vampire growled. "Why are you after her", Damon asked. The vampire growled. Damon looked at the vampire in disdain, "What the fuck are you on dude"?

The vampire continued to slug about completely disoriented with the large branch poking all the way through him and out his back. Damon heard Bonnie release a loud scream once again. "What the fuck", he reacted. Clearly he wasn't going to get answers from this dead minded fellow. He yanked the branch from the vampire's center and then he plunged it into his chest. The branch connected through and on the other side, the vampire's heart was hanging on the end. In just a second the creature hit the ground.

"Bonnie", Damon ran off to find her. When he got sight of her downhill there was another vampire that had grab ahold of her. This one too was growling like an animal just like the other. Without hesitation, Damon zipped over to him and snapped his neck. The vampire fell to the ground.

Without wasting time, two more vampires appeared out of nowhere and both jumped onto Damon. Everything was happening too fast. "Bonnie, just run", he told her. He groaned as he struggled with the two. Bonnie was on her knees, both of her hands clinching her head.

She was trying to focus with all of the commotion. She was going deep into her mind. She was pulling power together. She could feel it; she was about to take control of the situation. She stood to her feet and as she did every vampire around her was holding onto their own heads.

Each one felt excruciating pain, including Damon. They felt like their heads would explode. "Bonnie", Damon begged for Mercy. The other two vamps growled instead.

Damon knew what she was doing. She was trying to diffuse the situation. The only way she would stop this is if he could put them down himself. He reached over to one of the vampires off to his right and snapped his neck. He hobbled to the vampire on his left and twisted his head almost completely around. He too fell to the ground.

Once he did so the pain in his head had disappeared. He gasped in relief. "Oh Bonnie… Did it have to come to that"?

"It worked, didn't it", she responded.

"It's unbearable every time", he cited.

"They're not dead. What are we going to do with them", she asked.

"I'll show you", Damon walked over to one of the unconscious vamps. He lifted up one foot and stomped as hard as he could. The vampire's head spurted. He walked over to the second one, he did the same thing and it was just as messy.

Bonnie threw her hands out, "Damon, no"! He bypassed her anyway and this time he jumped on the third vamps head with both feet. His eyeballs flung out of its sockets. Bonnie swung her head away. "That one was a doozy", Damon joked. Bonnie walked over to him and struck him in the shoulder, "Why did you do that? Now we can't get answers from either one of them". She kept striking Damon until he answered.

Damon grabbed Bonnie by both of her hands. He moved so fast that it startled her. He looked at her, and she looked at him. Both of their eyes met, very intensely.

Bonnie was trying to read his eyes. The look spoke to her. Damon wouldn't have done all of that without reason. The two held their stares. Despite the pain of the headache, Damon was thankful for what she did.

Through it all, Bonnie was thankful for all of what he had did. They communicated these things merely by the look in each other's eyes. Still holding onto her hands and their gazes locked on face-to-face he spoke calmly, "They weren't going to say a word. I tried on top of the hill. If you had noticed, the two down here spoke a bunch of mumbo jumbo. We weren't going to get anything from them".

Bonnie nodded, she understood. She hung onto every one of his words. Damon let go of her hands. Finally, their eye contact broke. Damon glanced at the puncture wounds on Bonnie's neck. "We need to take care of that", he said rubbing on the pair of fang marks that had punctured a vessel in her neck.

Damon extracted his own fangs and brought his wrist to his mouth to take a bite. There was a moist sound as his teeth sunk in. With his wrist leaking he then brought it up to Bonnie's lips, "Here, drink". Bonnie shook her head, "No Damon, I can't".

"Bonnie", he called out to her with a look of insistence.

"Damon, blood is disgusting", she put on the most unappealing look. "Just a little, come on. This is going to heal you, make you feel better". This time he didn't give her much time to think about it. He pushed his bloody wrist into her mouth and counted, "One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi".

Bonnie sucked with a sour look on her face. He got some sort of enjoyment out of this. This was also a way to punish her for how she had acted earlier in the car. After the third count she pulled her head away. She stuck her tongue out and grasped for air. "Oh my God! I'm not going back for more".

Damon laughed, "That should do anyway".

"Healing quicker almost isn't worth it".

"Oh stop exaggerating Witchy"!

They both looked around the now peaceful woods. The corpses still lying in a disgusting mess at their feet.

"Why do you think they attacked", she asked.

"I don't know. I'm glad we didn't have to find out either way. Something was wrong with them. They were very strange", he responded.

"I'm ready to go home now", Bonnie had a puppy dog look about her face.

"Oh now I can get your ass back to the car. Let's go"!

Damon led the way out of the woods and Bonnie followed unarguably.


	4. Chapter 4

Damon pulled the car over to the curb outside of Bonnie's home. "Well this is you", he said as he put the gear in park. She looked out of the window to the home she inherited from her grandmother. This particular home was one that she actually grew up in part time while her parents were battling in a nasty divorce. She had liked to stay with her grams to get away from the drama of being yanked back and forth between her mom and dad.

"Yep. This is me", Bonnie was much mellow now, as opposed to earlier. She picked up her jacket that she had lying on her lap and she put it on to cover up the dried blood that was on the collar of her shirt. She looked over at Damon who had glanced at her at the same time. She figured that she couldn't be mad at him anymore, not now. Not after everything they had gone through in the day.

For once, Damon Salvatore had risked his own life to save hers. Six months ago he probably would have sacrificed her life for a new bearskin rug to place under his coffee table. She wanted to smile, but she didn't. She wasn't going to show him that he was completely off the hook. After all, she was convinced that he really had no clue why she was mad.

He didn't understand how she was feeling inside, about him. Hell, she didn't even understand why the certain appeal to him either. She was irritated previously because she thought their kiss would have cemented the deal, but she only ended up hanging off of a weak limb. She caught herself thinking, Damon really is making the effort to be a good guy. Then she realized that it was all for Elena.

Damon reached his hand out for her to shake. "Friends", he said.

Bonnie looked at his lone hand extended at her. Then she thought about the way he looked at her when he said the word "friends". It was adorable the way his eyes lit up. His dimples were irresistible, and made it so hard not to squeeze his cheeks. It was like they were two preschool kids that just bonded after teaming up to triumph over the schoolyard bully.

She smirked, "You don't get off that easily". She decided she was going to play this whole thing up. She couldn't become vulnerable to Damon, she just couldn't. She had to protect herself, her feelings.

She opened the passenger door and got out. "Goodbye Damon", and she closed the door. He shook his head as he started the car. He had been alive almost two hundred years and he was beginning to think that he'd never understand how women work. Bonnie was being nothing short of a Rubik's cube and he could not figure out her pattern.

Then she forgot something. "Oh Damon, wait", she bent down and leaned into the window of the car. "What's up", he asked. She chose her words wisely, "Umm… Let's not mention certain things about this weekend to anyone, ok"?

Damon winked, "Of course not. We're on the same page".

"Good", and she walked away. Damon started his car and drove off.

Bonnie headed down the long concrete path through the yard and up to her porch. Through her left ear she heard the rumble of Damon's car turn the corner and through her right ear she heard somebody calling out to her, "Bonnie".

She looked over to see that it was her on-again-off-again ex-boyfriend Jeremy. In her mind she cursed the moment. His timing couldn't have been any worse. He ran up the porch steps and right into her personal space.

"Bonnie, was that Damon's car? Were you just with Damon". He marched over with his arms flailing in a heap of disappointment. His approach was indication enough that she was about to go on an emotional wild ride.

"Why does it matter Jeremy? I don't owe you an explanation".

"Damon is an asshole, you don't need to be dealing with him". Bonnie had found this to be very ironic. The fact that her ex was the most selfish, controlling, insecure, and inconsiderate individual to ever have two legs to stand on. Not to mention he was abusive mentally and physically as well as a routine drug user.

In fact, he was high off of some type of substance at the very moment. This was evident through his choppy speech and glossy eyes, and the guy could barely hold himself up.

"We're not together anymore Jeremy". Bonnie was trying to keep her cool. However, she didn't know how long she would be able to keep it all together. She ultimately had reached her breaking point with Jeremy months ago when she last saw him.

"We agreed we're taking a break, but I don't like the idea of you hanging out with him. That just isn't right", It was clear that Jeremy really didn't have a valid reason for his disapproval of her spending time with Damon, other than the fact that Damon had a penis of his very own and the slightest chance that Damon attempted to use it on Bonnie did not settle good with him.

"Well Jeremy, if I could just be honest. I don't think we need to ever be together again. I'm ready to move on. I'm over all of the bullshit I have to go through with you. I'm tired of it and I want to move on past this, without you". Bonnie figured this was the most straightforward way to lay this onto him. She was praying that he would take this all in stride.

"I thought we were getting through this". All of his efforts were just pointless at this point. He was beating a dead horse.

"Getting through this? Look at you"! Bonnie threw her hands out at him. "You're fucking high. You're always on some type of drug. You have been since Anna died. I'm not going to just be an instrument to use to be able to cope over your dead previous girlfriend. You're never going to recover from it and I'm sorry, but I have to think of myself for once".

"That's not true Bonnie".

"But it is Jeremy. And then there's the cheating. I catch you with a new girl every week".

Jeremy sighed; he couldn't respond because it was an undeniable fact.

"I'm not going to look past it anymore", Bonnie continued.

"You know I love you Bonnie, and no one else".

"If you loved me Jer, you would come be with me every night. Not with some other girls where you can't even manage to remember their name".

"I swear to you Bonnie, this new year I'm going to get my shit together. It's all about you. I'm going to change for you".

"You said that last year Jeremy. I'm done hearing it. Leave! Good-bye"!

Bonnie attempted to end the conversation and head into her house, but Jeremy grabbed onto her arm before she could completely turn away.

"Let me go", she tried to pull away from him.

"I'm not done talking to you", he started to squeeze hard so that she would submit to him.

"Ouch Jeremy. Stop! I don't want to hurt you", she threatened him.

Jeremy kept squeezing.

"Jeremy, I'm warning you". The two of them got into a tug war. The only way Bonnie was going to break from this was if she resorted to harsher measures. With her free hand she palmed Jeremy right in the nose, enough to make him holler. "Bonnie, you bitch"! Next, with a flick of her wrist she sent Jeremy soaring into the air. He was projected several feet landing flat on his back in the front lawn, bloody nose included.

Bonnie stood atop of the porch looking down at what she had done to this feeble minded boy. He remained on his back with his arms and legs spread out. His current state of intoxication only weighed him down even more. She truly felt bad. This was the first time she ever decided to retaliate against Jeremy's abuse, but she was fed up. She turned away to go into her home, hoping that he'd just sober up and leave.


	5. Chapter 5

Damon rushed into the large Salvatore mansion. He saw Elena's car outside in the driveway, so he knew he'd find her there. He threw his bags down in the foyer as soon as he walked in. He glanced into the grand living room first, but it was as neat as the day he had left. It hadn't seemed as if anything was touched. He checked the dining room and it was in the same state as the living room.

Once he saw that the whole bottom floor was cleared, he knew she'd definitely be upstairs. He didn't bother checking his room, which would have been wishful thinking. He and Elena didn't quite leave off on good terms. So surprising him in his room spread out on his bed with a sexy nightgown would totally be out of the question. He missed those days though, having the luscious Elena in his company.

On his really good days when he deserved it, she would wear red. It was his favorite color. In fact, it would be red and laced. He loved lace as well. She would wear her hair in perfect curls. The way her hair fell down her back, long bold brown curls touching her nice bare back drove him crazy.

She always smelled amazing. She would apply some of the most delectable scents. The sweet smell of pomegranate was her typical. She'd smell so good his mouth would water. All of these thoughts mixed with the presence of Elena somewhere in his house was beginning to turn him on.

He rushed back out to the hallway to check another room. He happen to spot a shirtless Stefan heading down the stairs. "Stefan", he called to grab his brother's attention.

"Whoa Damon, you're back! I didn't know when to expect your return. You just disappeared", Stefan trotted back up the stairs to greet him.

"Yea, it's a long story. Have you seen Elena"? Damon was willing to cut their reunion short.

"Yeah, she's here. I think she's in the shower".

"Great", Damon moved passed his brother with nothing more to say.

Damon walked up to the bathroom door, but he didn't go in immediately. He listened first to hear the shower running. In a matter of a few seconds the water was shut off and he joyfully walked into the bathroom to see the completely naked Elena step out through the shower door.

"Damon", she quickly wrapped a towel around herself. "What are you doing? Where the hell have you been"? She hadn't realized at what circumstances she would end up seeing Damon again. She didn't have to wonder anymore. Without a response he grabbed Elena by the hand and dragged her to his room.

"Damon, what's going on"? She smiled nervously. She didn't have the time to dry off thoroughly. Her hair was pinned up, because she didn't want to have to walk around with soaked hair for the time being. Her bangs draped down her forehead and she had to keep pushing them back. She clinched her towel at the top to keep herself covered.

"I have something for you". He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace. "Merry Christmas", he held it right in front of her face. "Well, I know it's a few days late but I would have gotten it hear on time if I was able to". The necklace dangled from his fingertips, it was nice and shimmery. It was solid gold and connected to it was a heart shaped locket of the same quality.

Elena placed her hand on her chest in genuine surprise. "Damon, that can't be… is it? Is it really my necklace"?

"Yep", Damon gloated.

"The one that my father gave me"?

"Yep", he said proudly once more.

Elena reached out to touch it. She wrapped her fingers around the heart-shaped locket and she pulled it from Damon's hand.

"The hook where you secure it together is broke, but we could always get that fixed", he stated.

"Where did you find it? This was taken from me".

"I had to go to Maine to get it".

"You went to Maine Damon"? That was nowhere near any guess that she could have made.

"Yea, I had Bonnie do a locator spell and we went to retrieve it".

"Wait, what? That's where Bonnie was this whole time? Elena was skeptical.

"You both vanished, but we never considered that the two of you would be together".

Damon chuckled, "Well yea, she knew how much it meant to you too. She was hesitant to help me at first, but she came around. Of course it was meant to be a surprise, so we didn't tell anyone. We also didn't plan on getting snowed in for two weeks though".

"So that's why you've been gone this long", it was all starting to make sense to her.

"Right", he nodded.

"Hmm. My Bonnie? The leader of the lynch Damon mob"? Elena analyzed the idea of it all in her head. Damon could see that her gears were spinning. He sat on the side of his bed and pulled her down with them. They sat side by side.

"Wow Damon, this is such a surprise. I'm so happy you were able to get it back. Who had it"?

"That's the crazy thing about it. So, we went to Maine because that's where Bonnie was able to detect where your necklace was…"

Damon began to think back to the moment he and Bonnie arrived in Maine. It was freezing. He took a few misguided turns toward the end of the route, which he and Bonnie argued over for a solid hour. Once they got back on track they were led to the city of Aroostook, which was in northern Maine. The house that they were directed to sat on the end of the street in the neighborhood.

All of the houses looked unrecognizable because they were covered in snow. There was white everywhere. Poor Bonnie was distinctly shivering in her little snow boots, thick jacket, winter cap, gloves, and scarf. She was so offended every time Damon told her to suck it up. When they walked up to the house Damon wasted no time to approach.

There was a van in the drive way and a single light on in the living room. Bonnie didn't walk up to the doorstep until someone answered Damon's ring of the bell. A man answered the door. He was middle aged and lived alone. Damon went to work as soon as the man opened.

He tried to compel the man but it wasn't working. His mind was blocked. Damon had initially commanded the man to welcome him in the home on account of all vampires being unable to go into someone's home without being invited in, but the man denied him. He was able to turn down Damon's request. He also was able to avoid Damon's questioning.

Damon knew immediately what the cause was. Another vampire had compelled him already, and he was instructed to reject anything that was said to him upon opening the door.

"So, did you ever get in the house or figure out who it was", Elena inquired.

"Well of course. Bonnie was able to go in there. Things got a little rough while I waited outside, but the witch prevailed. Apparently there was a female vampire harbored in there.

"Right. I believe it was a girl. She snatched my necklace off. When Caroline and I went holiday shopping".

Damon nodded.

"I remember she had bold red hair, but she did it so quick I couldn't tell where she had run off too. Maine though"?

Damon nodded once more.

"Elena, you're a vampire now. You should have quicker reflexes by now, I mean c'mon".

"Damon, why would I expect that someone would just randomly come and snatch my necklace right off of me", Elena got defensive.

"I'm just saying, it's been over a year now newbie". He egged her on further.

"Anyway, who was she"? Elena moved on with the topic.

"Her name was McKenzie. Ring any bells", he asked.

Elena shook her head. "No", she said clueless.

"Oh well. At first she claimed that she was a drifter and that she went traveling around stealing people's things and selling them for money. However, that didn't sit right with me".

"What do you mean", Elena asked.

"Since a vampire and a witch came practically knocking that door down to retrieve your necklace, you'd think she would have given it back freely".

"Right…" Elena was trying to see where he was going with this.

"Instead she didn't. She tried to fight us for it. She risked her life just to be able to hold onto this necklace. Surely it had to be much more worth to it, at least to her".

"So, you killed her", Elena suspected.

"Well, as much as I wanted to I actually didn't. I told you Elena, I want to turn over a new leaf, change for you. Her death wasn't necessary. Plus, I had Bonnie there to talk me down, which is mainly why little McKenzie is still alive". He gave off a childish grin.

Elena looked as if she was pleased with his decision.

"But we did have to torture her for answers", he mentioned.

"Of course you did", Elena rolled her head. "Did you at least find anything out", she asked.

"Not much. Just that someone had put her up to it and she was suppose to deliver the necklace to them".

"What? Why? Who"? The questions kept coming fast.

"She wouldn't say. We couldn't get it out of her, even when I suggested cutting her tongue out. I don't know what hold this person has over her, but it's big".

"Damon, should I be worried"? She began to look the part.

"You don't need to worry baby doll. That necklace belongs to you. Anyone else thinking otherwise will have one hell of a tough time".

Damon made a point. The friends Elena had were just as vicious then anyone else could threaten to be, between all of the bloodsuckers she roamed with and the witch that she had in her back pocket as a secret weapon. Not to mention the love they all had for each other. They had always proved to be unstoppable.

Damon closed the necklace into Elena's hand, "We'll go out to get it fixed soon and put it around that pretty neck of yours. Ok"?

Elena smiled, "Ok". The way she sounded was almost the voice of innocence.

As they remained side-by-side Damon reached over to caress Elena's cheek. Then without acknowledgment Stefan poked his head in through the doorway. He looked at Damon and Elena for a moment before speaking, and they looked at him. Damon gave him a funny look, his eyebrows started going wacky. "Uh… Stefan. Can we help you"?

Stefan broke his gaze. "Oh, I'm just seeing if y'all are coming down for dinner. I just whipped something up, it's done".

"Umm… Ok", Damon had sounded condescending.

'We'll be down Stefan", Elena had made up for Damon's attitude.

Once Stefan walked off and the moment of interruption was over, Damon was back at it. He ran the curve of his index finger down to Elena's jaw. He hooked around it and tried to pull her close for a kiss.

"No Damon", she kindly pushed his hand down.

"No"? Damon surely didn't prepare for rejection. "Elena c'mon, it's been too long. I missed you. I miss your kisses".

"Damon we're broken up. We've been broken up".

"Yea, and that's all by your choice".

"And you know why", she pointed to him.

"And I'm trying to change babe. You see that right"?

"Yea, but you tried that once before. Then you killed Liam, they guy I was seeing".

Damon smacked himself with a face palm. "Elena, that wasn't going anywhere… you knew that. You were using him as a distraction or probably doing it to teach me a lesson".

Elena rose from the bed. She began to speak down to Damon and her voice was starting to get louder. "Regardless of what you thought my reasoning was Damon, you had no right to cause that car crash. A mother had to bury her son and now I have to somehow feel like I was responsible".

Damon was nearly ready to get on his knees and beg for forgiveness, a thousand apologies if he had to. He genuinely felt tremendous regret for scaring Liam out on the road that night. As he began to open his mouth to make his last case Elena threw her finger up to hush him.

"Damon, I'm going to leave out of here and go get dressed. Then I'm going to head downstairs for dinner. Either join us or don't, but please don't put me through this.

She then immediately turned and walked away. Damon was pissed with frustration.

He put a pillow over his face and hollered a hard suffocated yell. At this point, he didn't know what he was going to do with himself. He thought he had pulled off the ultimate comeback, however all of his success had just crashed and burned.


	6. Chapter 6

Caroline ran up the stairs and stormed into Bonnie's room. "Bonnie Bennett, where have you been"?

Bonnie was thrilled to see her closest friend again. She ran up to give her a big hug. They both embraced each other tightly. Caroline got teary eyed. She was always overly emotional, the type of girl to wear her heart on her sleeve.

"I had my mom open a missing's person investigation. I was scared shitless".

Caroline's mother was the sheriff of Mystic Falls. She was well aware that her daughter Caroline was a vampire and that some of her friends were too, as well as Bonnie's magical abilities. To everyone's surprise, Sheriff Forbes turned out being a huge support to their team.

"I'm sorry Care, I agreed to help Damon with Elena's surprise", Bonnie responded.

Caroline paused, "Wait hold on, for a second I thought you just said that you were with Damon".

Bonnie laughed, "I was".

Caroline felt Bonnie's head with the back of her hand. "Bonnie… Is everything ok? You have got to be extremely ill to give Damon the time of day".

"We went out to Maine to retrieve that necklace of Elena's that her father gave her. She really cherished it, so I figured I could help".

"Lord, Bonnie! I don't care, you should have at least told me". Caroline gave Bonnie a stern look. Bonnie put her arm around her, "Ok, it won't happen again. I promise". Bonnie walked her over to some chairs and they both took a seat, "Now, tell me how your Christmas was".

"Well beside the fact that you weren't here, it was ok. Could have been great, you know…"

"Ah yes I know… But who came over? What went on? C'mon Care, dish"!

"Ok, well I had made a big meal. Elena and Stefan came over to help with it a bit. We made turkey, ham, dressing, potato salad, and green beans. I baked an amazing red velvet cake, your favorite. And it was amazing"!

"Ahhhh", Bonnie groaned.

"Yeah, you missed out", then Caroline continued. "I bought everyone sweaters, and yours is still downstairs under the tree".

"Aww, thanks".

"What else", Caroline thought. "Elena gave out various gift cards. Jeremy didn't come by…"

Bonnie shrugged; she no longer cared what Jeremy did.

"My mom kept winning all of the games that we played. My dad also stopped by". Caroline then jumped out to the edge of her seat, "Oh and Matt and Tyler got engaged"!

"What"? Bonnie's eyes got big. "And I missed it? Oh my God! I'm going to cry. I'm so happy for them".

"Yea me too! Even if both of them are my ex-boyfriends and Tyler left me for Matt. They're super cute together. And they promised, I get to plan the whole wedding". Caroline threw her hands up and they both cheered.

"It all sounds like a good time", Bonnie sounded less enthusiastic when she compared what she could have done, rather than what actually happen for the holiday.

"What took so long for you guys to get back anyway", Caroline asked.

Bonnie sighed, she thought about what parts she would tell Caroline.

She began to relive the moment:

"On our way home it began to snow really bad so we stopped for somewhere safe to stay. One day turned into a few days, then a week, before we knew it; two weeks had passed".

Bonnie explained to Caroline how the elderly woman named Urma was the closest place to go during the storm. Urma lived in her cabin with only a dog, a shih Tzu named Yodel. Urma had no clue about Damon being a vampire or Bonnie being a witch. Damon only compelled her once they left in order to cover their tracks in case someone had come looking for them. The first couple of days there, Damon and Bonnie didn't make the most of their time.

They sat and patiently waited for the snow to let up, maybe not so much at first. Damon was definitely anxious to surprise Elena, and Bonnie often thought long and hard about what her friends were doing at every moment. Once they saw that the storm wasn't slowing down any, they decided to make themselves comfortable at Urma's insistence. They spent their days drinking hot beverages, baking cookies, watching classic movies, and playing all sorts of games. Damon was a very cocky chess player, and to Bonnie's surprise he was actually really good.

Damon took a liking to Bonnie's baking skills, honed from her grandmother Sheila. When she baked chocolate chip-walnut he raved about them. Bonnie found herself making that batch pretty often, perhaps for that reason. He'd chew without a word to say, entranced in their deliciousness. Bonnie enjoyed the satisfaction. For once in her life, someone was taking appreciation in something that she could offer.

It might have been something as simple as baking cookies, but he showed her that there was something that she could be proud of. Jeremy had spent a lot of time disregarding her, making her feel worthless. Sometimes she felt like a substitute. She settled on this for the fear of being lonely. Once upon a time she loved Jeremy for his innocence.

He was a sweet boy with passion. He was unique and there was mystery about him. The loss of Anna was the twist of fate that sent Jeremy swirling into a dark entrapment. She had remained hopeful for a long time that he would turn around eventually. It wasn't until these last weeks that Damon showed her an alternate version of her current life.

Bonnie dreamed that she could make someone happy one day and in turn she'd get the same. Her and this special guy would have a nice cozy home of their own. They would travel together and experience what places the world had to offer. They could move away from Mystic Falls and not have her magic exploited all of the time. They could escape all of the drama of the supernatural.

Urma had taught Bonnie how to knit. She spent hours knitting small things at first to get the hang of the craft. When she was ready to advance from baby socks and mittens, Damon suggested that she make a skullcap for him for the winter. At first she didn't entertain the thought, but on Christmas day when they were idly sitting around slumped in despair she pulled it out for him as a gift. His words had escaped him.

He grinned, and he even blushed. He couldn't think of a time when someone had given him a gift. He didn't know how to accept it. Plus, he didn't have anything for her. She swore it was fine, and that she was really cool with it.

"I mainly did it for the practice", she claimed. However, when Damon put the cap on and began modeling and goofing around in it, she couldn't help but to feel warm on the inside. It didn't look perfect and he even made fun of it a little, but he didn't take it off all day. On Christmas night Urma had supplied them with some pajamas that she had boxed up in a closet and she went to bed, leaving Bonnie and Damon up alone.

"Alright Bon, I think both of us can agree that we would much rather not have to be stuck here with each other like this on Christmas, but we have to make the most of it".

Bonnie shook her head with a curious smile. Damon took a blanket and laid it on the floor and they both used it to sit by the fireplace. They both sat Indian style and roasted marshmallows on the open flame. They giggled along as they told each other's funny past Christmas stories. Damon occasionally looked at Bonnie off to the side of him.

He liked her smile, and how he was able to make her smile. He actually came under the realization that he had never seen Bonnie smile before, but the difference it made was very intriguing. There were times in the past where he would bitch her out, after she would accuse him of being a menace, a monster, and the devil over the horrible things he has done. She said she would have cursed him for the rest of his life if it wouldn't affect her close friends. He once told her that he didn't know why her friends liked having her around, that she craved power and she was afraid to admit it.

He criticized her self-righteousness, and accused her of not being as morally respectable as she led on to be. Now he was willing to admit that he saw what everyone else saw in her. She was charismatic. He also loved her reliability. Her strength to raise above all the bad that's happen around her, he admired that. It inspired him.

That night Bonnie had went searching through the kitchen cabinets and she had stumbled across a bottle of rum. It was her ideal to spike the eggnog. Damon lifted his glass up, "Pour me up". After two hours they had gone through the whole bottle of rum. It didn't faze Damon at all because of the fact that vampires can't get drunk with their healing abilities.

However, Bonnie was almost faded to oblivion. She lay down as Damon remained sitting up next to her. She played with her hair. Winding strands of it with her index finger. She sputtered off a bunch of random talk, anything that came to mind. Damon laughed at the nonsense that she said.

"Don't laugh at me jerk. Why are you laughing"? She'd reached up to swat at him.

This made him laugh more; Bonnie was flirting. That's how it came off, and she had this certain look in her eyes. Damon thought about that very moment. How he never imagined being in the situation. How he'd never share this experience with Bonnie before, and how he may never have the chance to ever again. Definitely something like this didn't seem solid to him.

They were two people making the best of a shitty situation. When Bonnie had made another failed attempt at swatting at Damon for making fun of her, her hand landed on his leg that was spread straight out across the floor. He looked down at it. It looked so out of place, her hand on his thigh. He thought hard for a minute.

He truly was enjoying this moment more than he thought he'd ever would. He reached down and grabbed Bonnie's hand; he intertwined his fingers with hers. She looked up to him with nervousness.

"You were wrong earlier", she said not breaking her gaze on him.

"Wrong about what", he asked.

"There are plenty of other people that I can think of that I'd rather not be here with. You're not one of them". She spoke softly, angelic like.

"I'm enjoying this Bonnie, I really am".

Bonnie sat up slowly. He watched her for every moment that she rose. The look in his eyes was intense. It sent a shiver down her spine. She stared back at him.

This moment on any other day, at any other time would have made them feel completely awkward. The glow from the fire was present on their faces. The crackling from the flames made for some hell of an ambiance. Damon thought to himself that he wanted to make a move on her badly, just to give it a try. Just because he felt like maybe he'd regret it if he didn't.

However, she wasn't her sober self. Would he be taking advantage of her? What if she didn't even remember in the morning? He wouldn't mind that. What to do he thought? Without anymore hesitation there was a spark within him that made him move.

He reached over to pull back some of her hair that had fell in the front of her face. He gently tucked it behind her ears. Bonnie stared at his lips. They were so pink, so juicy looking. He licked them once.

His look was inviting. Without waiting anymore, she reached over and pressed her lips against his. He didn't hesitate to kiss right back, both committing to the kiss full on. Damon placed his hand behind Bonnie's head, his fingers combed her hair. They kissed long and hard, they could hear each other breathe through their nose.

Bonnie brought her hand into Damon's shirt. She swiped her hands all over his abs. She roamed up to his chest. His hand caressed her lower back. Their kisses were getting long and sensual.

They used just about the right amount of tongue. Bonnie pushed herself forward. Damon rolled back to lay down as she straddled on top of him, his blood began to rush. His hands gripped her hips.

Although Bonnie was drunk and tremendously worked up, she fought the urge to start ripping his clothes off of him. They carried on for about ten minutes before it escalated any further. They stopped kissing, but the gaze into each other's eyes was back. Bonnie rested her forehead onto his as she thought about what just happened. Damon wanted to say something regarding the whole matter, but didn't know what.

Bonnie turned over to lie back down on her own side. They laid side by side looking up at the ceiling. Bonnie tried to bring about some sort of discussion to avoid dead silence, "So…".

"Bennett, that was pretty damn good", he responded. He kicked one of his feet over the other and placed his hands under his head.

"Yea, I suppose it was. So what now"?

"I feel like we're in a good place now. Like we can both sit in a room and not rip each other's heads off", he answered. However, that wasn't exactly the type of answer she was looking for.

"Oh", was all she said.

"I just have to get back to Elena, ya know? Do you think this was bad, what we just did"? He turned his head to look at her. He had dropped the Elena bomb once more. The moment was killed.

"Well you guys are broken up right now. And she'll never find out as long as you don't tell".

"You're right, we won't tell". He smiled at her still admiring this beauty that he was able to find under all of her bitterness.

Little did he know just now with this previous discussion, she had just taken a big shot to the heart. It was quick, sharp, and effective. Once again she was overlooked over Elena. It had been her life story since they were six-years-old. Elena gets all the boys, Elena gets cast as the lead in school plays, Elena wins all of the pageants, and it seem like it would never end.

Elena had always gotten everything she had ever wanted. Why did Elena have to be so entitled? However, Bonnie wasn't going to let that break their friendship. She truly did love Elena. There wasn't a time where she tried to get in Elena's way.

This is why she didn't bring up her feelings to Damon. Damon had planned on reconciling with Elena, and Bonnie didn't want to be the one to disrupt that. Bonnie couldn't face Damon anymore. She turned to her side to look away from him. What had she done?

She picked away at herself. She had never been so confused in her life. Why did she kiss Damon? For her, there was no valid reason. Why is it bothering her that he doesn't feel the same way? Looking into the still lively fire, she thought she would just jump in from all of the shame.

Damon raised up, "You heading to bed"?

"Yea", she said sullenly.

"Ok. Goodnight Bon", he turned over and they laid back to back.

Both still restless they faced opposite directions and remained in there thoughts. The next morning was the day all of that craziness with the rabid vampires had ensued. Bonnie decided not to share that part with Caroline when she brought herself back to the present time. Caroline was a worry bee. Bonnie didn't want to stress her out over something that was already done and over with.

She also decided to keep quiet about the make out session with Damon. She didn't want Caroline to have to be stuck in-between herself and Elena.

"Well the next time you decide you want to drive long distance for a favor Bonnie, I'm coming", Caroline demanded.

"Of course Caroline".

The two hugged once more. Bonnie rubbed her stomach, "Please tell me you have some leftovers of that Christmas meal".

"There's plenty. C'mon let's go get some. Oh and you can open your gift".

Both girls got up to make their way downstairs. Bonnie stopped in her tracks; she suddenly remembered she wanted to change because she still had blood on her shirt. She discreetly maintained to hide the stain with her jacket. "Hey Care, just head down there. I want to shower and change and then I'll come down".

"Ok Bon, but hurry up".

"Ok".

"Oh and Bonnie", Caroline shouted out to her midway down the stairs. "Don't make plans tomorrow. We're going dress shopping with Elena around noon. We all are going to the New Years ball at the Lockwood mansion".

"Uh… Right… Gotcha". Oh great! Damon better not break and tell Elena, she thought. She had to face Elena so soon. Then they'll all be hovering around each other for New Years. The year 2015 is going to be off to an interesting year she began to dread it.


	7. Chapter 7

There was a bar set-up located in the den to the Salvatore home. That's where Damon found himself early in the crack of morning. He hardly got any sleep. He had almost drunk every type of whiskey that they had. He tried to keep his mind focus, and he wanted to maintain calm as much as possible. However, Elena had driven him nuts the previous night. Things didn't go how he planned, and he just wanted to go around the town and snap everyone's neck including hers.

Stefan walked into the dim lit room. "Up drinking this early Damon, what's the occasion"?

Damon scoffed, "The death of my broken heart Stefan. What do you want"? He expressed his agitation. He swirled the drink around in his hands and took little sips every few seconds.

"I was just coming to catch up with you. We hardly spoke yesterday". Stefan slid onto a bar stool that was next to his brother.

"That was for a reason Stefan; I didn't want to talk to anyone".

"Is this about Elena"?

"Who else would it be about"?

"Makes sense".

"I saw that you brought Elena's necklace back".

"Yea, I should have left the damn thing there", Damon scowled.

"Sounds like there was the wrong intent behind it Damon".

"Stefan, do you know what Bonnie and I had to go through to get that necklace"? Damon spun his stool around to look at Stefan in the face.

"Not exactly".

"Plus, I spent two weeks away from home and everyone here because I was stuck in a damn cabin".

"Damon, Elena has been mad at you for months now. Who were you possibly in a rush back to be with? Let's be honest, it's not like you and I really celebrate the holidays together and you've terrorized the people of Mystic Falls for quite a few years".

Damon had to think about that. Stefan was right. If Elena wasn't going to spend the holiday with him, then no one was going to anyway. And he has indeed done some heinous things to the people of the town in the past. If anything, he was fortunate to have Bonnie this year, and that's only because she was unintentionally stuck with him. If it weren't for that he would have been alone for Christmas.

"Bonnie almost got killed for Elena, and I risked my life to protect Bonnie and get the necklace back. Elena is just selfish". Both of Damon's hands were on the bar and the glass nestled between them. He tapped his thumbs on the rim of the glass to control his nerves. He pouted as well.

"You were doing it for your own selfish reason though", Stefan pointed out.

"Why is it that you're always on the side of whoever I'm against Stefan? For once, can you just be on my side"? Stefan was always harder on his big brother. It was also easy for him to think that Damon was at fault for most things. Damon and Stefan played two separate roles. Damon was always the irrational and impulsive one and Stefan was always reasonable and careful.

Stefan reached over for the bottle sitting in front of Damon and poured himself a drink, "Maybe you should give Elena a break for a while. Give her some time", he suggested.

"Well, I've done everything that I could. I'm over it. If she wants to be with me, then she'll need to come back running to me".

"Well, wait and see", Stefan responded. "So, Bonnie… How is she? Were you nice Damon"?

"Wow brother! Everyone can't really think I'm that bad of a person. Do they? Even you"?

"As a person no, but as a vampire…" Stefan didn't bother continuing with his statement.

"Bonnie is fine. We're actually friends now, believe it or not". Damon poured himself a refill.

"Oh, you and Bonnie? You two finally signed a treaty". Stefan didn't expect to take him seriously.

"Stefan we spent two weeks in solitude with each other. What choice did we have but to get to know each other"?

Stefan nodded his head; he considered the possibility that Damon actually may not be exaggerating with this. Damon gave thought; there was something that he wanted to run by Stefan. However, he had told Bonnie that he wouldn't say a word. This was Stefan though. He wasn't the type of person who would go around and cause a big mess of things.

With all of the Elena trouble he was having, Damon had been trying to crack the code with Bonnie. He wanted to figure out this new change in her. She just wasn't the same anymore. People would be surprised if they knew that he actually kept tabs with what was going on amongst everyone. And he actually cared at times too. He knew the hardship that Bonnie was going through with Jeremy. He had never made that his business though.

"Hey Stefan, there's something that I have to talk to you about".

"Sure", Stefan waited for him to lead into it.

"So… This new relationship that I have with Bonnie… It gets pretty interesting". Damon was trying to fish for the words in his head.

"What do you mean", Stefan asked in response to Damon's vagueness.

"Well we're cool now. It's really weird because things got really-really cool between us", Damon wasn't being direct at all for the moment.

Stefan shook his head, "I don't get what you're saying Damon. I mean, I get that y'all are cool now".

Damon struggled to find a way to bring this up to Stefan, "Bonnie and I… We… Kissed". Damon's eyes ventured away from Stefan so he didn't catch his expression. He expected this to get a little uncomfortable.

"Uh… what did you just say"? Stefan wanted to make sure he heard this right. Damon moved in closer to Stefan, he didn't want to say it too loud for the fear that Elena would randomly appear out of nowhere.

"She and I kissed. We kissed Stefan. Did you get that"?

Stefan smiled, "Brother. You're joking right"?

"No Stefan, that's why I need your insight on this".

"I don't believe you Damon. You're kidding".

"What the fuck Stefan? Why would I joke about this? Tell me what this means".

"You tell me what it means Damon; it was you two that did it". Stefan's smile turned into a full-blown laugh.

"I know, but I don't really know. We were drinking, she was a little drunk. She leaned over for a kiss. And I kissed her back. It was just that I really wanted to kiss her even before that though. I just didn't have the guts to make the move, but she did".

"So you have feelings for Bonnie"?

"No! Well, I don't think so. I never did before. You know I love Elena. The kiss with Bonnie just has me so confused. For those brief minutes that we shared in this crazy make out session Elena didn't consume my mind. It was all about Bonnie and me at that moment. And she was so good, it felt so good too".

"So then you're cool now. There's no awkwardness"?

"Well, she was mad at me all of a sudden. I could tell she enjoyed the kiss as much as I did, but then she was so pissed and didn't want to talk about it anymore. She wouldn't even explain why"?

"Damon, by any chance did you happen to mention Elena at all"? Stefan knew what the answer would be, he knew his brother well.

"Well yea, a couple of times. I was trying to be direct with her. We both knew the purpose of the trip. It was all for Elena".

"Oh Damon, you dumb ass! The last thing a girl wants to hear after she kisses you is the mention of another woman. C'mon you idiot".

"It's Bonnie Stefan"! Damon threw his hands in the air.

"And you don't think Bonnie has feelings"?

"Yea I do, but why would it bother her".

"Because she likes you Peanut Brain"!

Damon hit a moment of silence. He thought about it. "She does not", he responded.

"Sounds like it to me. She got drunk and acted on the internal feelings that she had just like most people do. The fact that she got mad after you mentioned Elena is an indicator that she is feeling something for you".

Damon took a moment to process all of this in his head.

"Things like this happen a lot Damon. Two people go from despising each other to falling for each other".

"I'm not falling for her Stefan". Damon was unsure of how he felt. He hadn't considered that there would ever be a possibility that Bonnie had these types of feelings for him. This changes a lot of things in their dynamics. With no further words Damon got up from the bar.

"Where are you going", Stefan asked.

"I'm going for a drive, I need to think about this crazy reality my life is spinning off into".

Stefan shook his head and watched his brother snatch his keys from the hook they were hanging on. As Damon swung the door open Stefan shouted, "Stay out of trouble Damon".

"Yeah, yeah", Damon flicked his hand back at him.

Once the door slammed shut, Stefan turned forward and he placed a sly smirk on his face.


End file.
